Mechanical lamp shade



Feb. 23, 1954 J. c. BULLOCK MECHANICAL LAMP SHADE Fil ed Aug. 1 1951 2Sheets-Sheet l r c flvenfor Joe 62 :2! BzzZZock Feb. 23, 1954 v c,BULLOCK 2,670,431

MECHANICAL LAMP SHADE I Filed Aug: 1, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 062902202"Joe cz? Bullock Patented Feb. 23, 1954 UNITED STATES FATENT" OFFICE Y2,670,431 MECHANICAL LAMP SHADE Joe Cecil Bullock, Des Moines, IowaApplication August 1, 1951, Serial No. 239,680.

4 Claims. 1.

My invention is a lamp shade having manu ally adjustableshutters'orslats for forming the sides and top thereof. By adjusting theshutters to various angles from the horizontal to the vertical theamount of light waves or rays that are permitted to pass the shadelaterally or upwardly may'be controlled.

or the lamps known to me, the only control one has over the amount oflight rays that are permitted to pass the shade is by altering theintensity of the light inside the shade. The so called three-way bridgelamp is the most well known example. Some direction control can begain'ed'with certain forms of lamps previousiy known such as thegoosenecl: desk lamp which permits turning the shade to variouspositions thus directing the light rays in the desired direction". Suchlamps have not been commonly used as' floor lamps, however, and arerather unrefined in appearance for use in the living room.

Other lamps have features permitting mild adjustments such as tiltingthe shade or the like togive: a minor degree of control over the amountof light that is guided in a given direction.

In View of the foregoing brief review of the prior art, therefore. itis'theprincipal object of my invention to provide a mechanical lampshade that permits controlling the amount of light directed upwardly andlaterally.

It is a further object of my invention to provide alamp shade thatpermits various amounts of light topass the shade in differentdirections.

Itis astill further object of my invention to provide a mechanical lampshade that permits the amount of light that'passes the shade to becontrolled without altering the basic position of the shade with respectto the lamp.

' It is another object of my invention to provides. mechanical lampshade that changes in appearance as the amount of light permitted topass the shade is altered.

It isafurther object of my invention to provide: alamp shade thatpermits the giving of a variety of amounts of light without altering theintensity of the light in the lamp on which my shade is used.

' 'It is'a further object'- of my invention to provide a lampshade thatequips a lampto produce a variety of different lighting eifects withoutchanging the intensity or position of the light givingelement in thelamp.

These' 'and' other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

My inventionconsists in the construction, arrangement; andcombination ofthe various parts 2 of the device, whereby the objects contemplated areattained as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims,and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which: v

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of my shade with a fragmentary portion of alamp showing below 3 the shade;

Fig. 2 is a top view of my shade; V

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 3 3of Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sec tion'al view of my lamp"shade with broken lines showing adjusted positions of the louvers takenon the line fi4 of Fig. 2. A fragmentary portion of a lamp is shown indotted lines; and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged exploded perspective view of a single shutterelement or slat and a frag ment of a shutter slat adjusting bar. 7

Referring to the drawings I have used the numeral H) to designate thetop of the shade. There is a raised portion which I call a turretdesignated by the reference numeral I l and which I have shown aspreferably formed integrally with top I0. I have also shown the turretas preferably round, but its shape is no more mate-' rial to theinvention than is the integral fo'rma tion of the turret and the rest ofthe top. since a turret of any suitable shape could be made eitherintegrally or separately with the balance of the top without departingfrom the spirit of my invention.

The top of turret H isprovided with a rectangular opening. l2 that iseasily formed by making an I-shaped cut in the top of the turret leavingtwo rectangular pieces of the top secured at only one of their foursides and bending these two rectangular pieces down into" the turret to"form the supporting brackets l3 for the top slats or shutters, M.

The ends of the shutter strips are bent at right angles to the bodyportion [4 to form ends t5; Two bosses are fixed to one end of eachshutter. One of these bosses designated IS on each slat serves as thepivot point for that end of the shutter. Supporting bracket it has ap=-propriately positioned holes, therein to receive bosses 16. Theotherboss I! on each slat end engages with an appropriately positionedhole in top shutter control plate l'8. The plate is provided with ahandle designated [9 to facilitate manual movement of the plate. Theother ends of the shutters M' are pivoted in a sup"- porting. bracketidentical to the one designated [3' and shown in Fig; 4. The. method ofpivoting the other ends is identical to bosses ['6' and'holes insupporting bracket I3. It is not necessary to have dual control plates,however, and I have shown the device as having only one. Because thestructure of the pivoting for both ends of the slats is the same, I haveshown only the end that carries the control plate I8. In Fig. 4 thesolid lines show the top shutters in a closed position when the controlplate is moved to the position shown by the broken lines; the top slatsare positioned as they are shown in the broken lines. The broken lineposition of the slats permits the maximum amount of light to passthrough the shade in an upward direction while the solid line positionsubstantially eliminates the possibility of light rays passing throughthe top of the shade. Between these two extreme positions there are aninfinite number of other positions that permit various amounts of lightto pass the shade upwardly. Circling the turret, I have shown a rib ordepression formed in the top It which serves the dual purpose of addingrigidity to top It and also limiting lateral movement of the shade withrespect to the lamp reflector bowl shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4 anddesignated by reference numeral 2!.

The outer edge of top It is bent down all the way around to form a topflange 22. To provide a frame work that will support the side shuttersor slats 23, the tapered support brackets 24 are secured to top H! inany suitable manner such as spot welding ears 25 to the top. The ears 26are similarly secured to the frame ring 21. The frame ring may be outfrom a single piece of material or from a series of straight sectionsheld together by the tapered support brackets on the top and cornermoulding 28 being similarly secured to the bottom side by ear 29. Thecorner moulding is secured to the top in any suitable manner here shownby having ear 30 spot welded as is most clearly shown in Fig. 1. Thismethod of securing the frame ring and top H3 together at each cornermakes a very light sturdy structure. The tapered support brackets areeasily formed from sheet material by bending the wing portions 3i and 32respectively outward from the center portion as can best be seen fromviewing Figs. 3 and 4 together. The wings are bent to an angle thatbrings the wing 3| of one support bracket parallel to the wing 32 of theother support bracket as is clearly shown in Fig. 3. Thus the endportions 33 and 34 of side slats or shutters 23 fit between the wingsand are rotatably supported thereon by the bosses 35 engagingappropriately arranged holes in the tapered support brackets. At one endof each group of side shutters is a shutter control bar designated 36.This bar has appropriately positioned holes therein such as the one 31shown in Fig. 5, that are spaced vertically the same as those in thetapered shutter support 24. The bosses 33 engage the holes in bar 36.

The side shutters are opened and closed in the same manner as the topshutters with one slight difference. The top shutter is very lightweight and moves in directions that do not tend to unsettle the shade onthe lamp. The inverted ridge 20 engaging the lamp reflector bowlprevents lateral movement of the shade. Only a single handle isnecessary for the top shutter. Since the side shutters are considerablylarger and, therefore, heavier than the top shutter plus the fact thatthe side shutters use an up and down action to operate them; the controlstructure on the side shutters is different in the following respect. Aring 39'is provided on the 4 shutter control bar 36 and a second ring 40is secured to the lower frame ring 21 in any appropriate manner as bywelding or the like. To operate the side shutters it is only necessaryto insert a finger in each of the rings 40 and 39 which permits thepushing or pulling of control bar 36 to be accomplished withoutupsetting the shade. As shown by the solid and broken line showings ofshutters in Fig. 4, difierent positions of the shutters may be attainedwhich range all the way from a closed position through a series oflouvered positions to a maximum open position. Since each side panel orshutter is independently controlled, a wide range of possible lightingeifects may be achieved as for example by opening alternate shutters todifferent amounts the various sides of the shade may be made to appearto be alternately light and dark. All the shutters may be opened to givegeneral illumination or closed on one side and open on the other topermit reading on one side of the lamp and shade a sleeping person inthe same room on the other side of the lamp.

While I have shown and described a floor lamp or desk lamp shade, Icould obviously use the same system for a ceiling light. As a matter offact, the lamp shade here described could be adapted to use on a ceilinglight very easily by merely inverting it. The controls would have to beadapted for such inverted use. With the lamp shade in an invertedposition, a very interesting series of indirect lighting effects may becreated. In the inverted position of the shade, the top shutter wouldthen become a bottom spot shutter for throwing a direct light on a tableor the like.

All of the bosses may be extra pieces that are added on to the vanes orshutter elements, but" the preferable means of making these bosses is tostamp them out of the side pieces of the vanes or shutter elements as isclearly shown in Fig. 5. Although the shutter element side pieces appearto be bent along a line that is at right angles to the longitudinal axisof the slats or shutter elements, as shown in Fig. 4, however, the topof the lower of two shutter elements fits into the bottom of thepreceding shutter vane to provide a substantially light impervious fitwhen the shutters are closed. So that the vanes may operate as set outimmediately above, the ends are bent so that the angle formed by theouter end of the vane portion exclusive of the end flaps and the top ofeach vane is a very mild obtuse angle. The tops of all the'vanes arejust slightly smaller than the bottoms, therefore, which permits thevanes to iit together as described. This same form of vanes is used inthe top so that they fit together as shown in Fig. 4 in solid lines.

The distance between facing wings of the tapered shutter supports issuch that they exert slight frictional resistance on the vanes. For thisreason, the vanes will stay in any position intermediate of theirextreme positions. Any

position to which the vanes are adjusted, there-- fore, will be helduntil effort is exerted to change the adjustment. The same is true ofthe slat supports and the slats in the top. To insure free movement ofthe slats, the wings of the tapered supports and support brackets l3 areresilient. Their resiliency also permits the insertion and removal ofthe vanes by a combination of flexing the vanes and spreading thesupport elements. Since the supports will spring more in the center thannear the secured ends, the vanes supported near the top and bottom ofthe side shutters and at the ends of the top shutter should be insertedbefore the center ones are positioned 1n the frame.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of mymechanical lamp shade, without departing'from the real spirit andpurpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims,any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents whichmay be reasonably included within their scope.

I claim:

1. In a lamp shade, a top having an opening therein, a plurality ofshutter vanes pivotally secured in the opening of said top, a pluralityof elements depending from said top, a lever pivotally secured to saidshutter vanes, a ring member secured to the lower end of said dependingelements, a plurality of shutter vanes movably mounted between each twoadjacent ones of said depending elements, a plurality of bars each onemovably secured to all of the shutter vanes between each two of saiddepending elements for controlling the shutter vanes mounted between anytwo depending elements independently from the shutter vanes between anyof the other depending elements, said depending elements frictionallyengaging the ends of said shutter vanes to yieldingly resist relativemovement therebetween; a ring adapted to engage a finger secured to thelower end of each of said bars, and a second ring fixed to said ringmember adjacent each of said bars, said second ring also adapted toengage a finger.

2. In a lamp shade, a top, a plurality of depending members secured tosaid top, a ring secured to the lower ends of all of said dependingmembers; said depending members being wider at their bases than at theirtops; said ring being larger in diameter than said top, a plurality ofshutter vanes pivotally secured between each two depending members; saidshutter vanes between any two depending members being of the samelength, and means for pivotally moving said shutter vanes comprising abar pivotally secured to each of said shutter vanes between any twodepending members, a ring secured to the lower end of said bar, and asecond ring secured to said ring member adjacent to said bar.

3. The lamp shade of claim 2 further characterized by having an openingin said top, a plurality of shutter vanes pivotally secured in saidopening, and a lever pivotally secured to each of said top shuttervanes.

4. A lamp shade, a top having an opening, a plurality of shutter vanespivotally secured in said opening, a lever pivotally secured to saidshutter vanes, a plurality of depending members secured to said top, aring secured to the lower ends of all of said depending members; said depending members being wider at their bases than at their tops; said ringbeing larger in diameter than said top, a plurality of shutter vanespivotally secured between each two depending members; said shutter vanesbetween any two depending members being of the same length, and meansfor pivotally moving said vanes.

JOE CECIL BULLOCK.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName I Date 938,031 White et a1 Oct. 26, 1909 1,427,042 Wetmore Aug. 22,1922 1,536,623 Norvell May 5, 1925 1,801,010 Koenig Apr. 14, 19312,152,385 Mayer et a1 Mar. 28, 1939 2,192,791 Kendall Mar. 5, 19402,227,861 Petrone Jan. 7, 1941 2,437,825 Kohn Mar. 16, 1948 FOREIGNPATENTS Number Country Date 305,298 Germany Apr. 25, 1918

